Ten top myth-busting tips

Unlike the speakers in the pseudoscience session earlier those in the ‘mythbusting’ session thought journalists should borrow some of the tools of scientific inquiry in their quests to reveal the truth behind the myth peddlers.

If assistant professor of physics at the American University of Cairo, Alaa Ibrahim, is to be believed, 95 per cent of science absorbed by the average person is gained through informal means, so journalists bear a huge responsibility to use whatever means they can to communicate sound science to the public.

Take your time to investigate. Credit: Flickr/jakebouma

Here are ten tips on mythbusting:

Speak up – say it is nonsense when it is.

Inform yourself of scientific terminology. What are the placebo effect and the double-blind test? What are the stages of clinical trials? The charitable trust Sense about Science has a number of published resources available.